Spanish priest finds creative way to "not be alone" during Holy Week masses

Record ID: 1468761

  • Title: Spanish priest finds creative way to "not be alone" during Holy Week masses
  • Date: 10th April 2020
  • Summary: VILLAR DEL ARZOBISPO, NEAR VALENCIA, SPAIN (APRIL 9, 2020) (REUTERS) PRIEST RAUL GARCIA ARRIVING AT CHURCH PICTURES OF FAITHFUL HABITUAL ATTENDEES PLACED ON BENCHES VARIOUS OF PRIEST RAUL GARCIA OFFERING HOLY MASS PICTURES OF FAITHFUL PLACED ON BENCHES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRIEST, RAUL GARCIA, SAYING: "It is a way not to be alone in church and for people to feel like they are accompanying me during Holy Mass everyday was to put these pictures on the benches." HAND SANITISER AND PICTURES OF FAITHFUL ON BENCH PRIEST OFFERING HOLY MASS PRIEST SHOWING AND EXPLAINING WHO THE PEOPLE ON PICTURES ARE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRIEST, RAUL GARCIA, SAYING: "The health crisis that we are experiencing has made the church to reinvent itself and so now we broadcast the Holy Mass everyday on TV and internet." TWO WOMEN FOLLOWING HOLY MASS VIA TV INSIDE THEIR HOUSE WOMAN FOLLOWING HOLY MASS ON HER PHONE INSIDE HOUSE SIGN FOR 'NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA PAZ' CHURCH EXTERIOR OF CHURCH / VILLA DE ARZOBISPO TOWN HALL BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2020 14:38
  • Keywords: Holy Week coronavirus in Spain lockdown mass with pictures
  • Location: VILLAR DEL ARZOBISPO, SPAIN
  • City: VILLAR DEL ARZOBISPO, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001C8WPU13
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Holy Mass during the coronavirus disease outbreak in Villar del Arzobispo has taken a twist this year at a church in a small village near Valencia.
    Priest Raul Garcia has found a creative way to hold Holy Mass amid strict lockdown measures - that don't allow his faithful to attend mass - by placing pictures of his habitual attendees on church benches.
    "It is a way not to be alone in church and for people to feel like they are accompanying me during Holy Mass," Priest Garcia told Reuters on Thursday (April 9).
    Garcia said that Nuestra Señora de la Paz church has had to reinvent itself during this health crisis and has resorted to broadcasting holy services on TV and internet.
    The coronavirus death toll curve in Spain flattened further on Friday (April 10) as the government discussed different strategies to start phasing out one of the world's strictest lockdowns.
    Spaniards have been off the streets since mid-March, but a slowdown of the COVID-19 disease's spread and its death toll has enabled officials to start discussing a gradual easing.
    (Production: Nacho Doce, Miguel Gutierrez, May Ponzo)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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